


Limbo

by wrelicofwren



Category: Sagas of Sundry: Dread (Web Series), Sagas of Sundry: Madness (Web Series)
Genre: Eldritch Horrors, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 02:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16232297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrelicofwren/pseuds/wrelicofwren
Summary: Fenly goes to the place beyond, and finds someone to help him out.





	Limbo

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm backing up my documents and realising that I actually posted this a very long time ago in the Sagas of Sundry Discord but never put it on here!

Selina’s grief-stricken wail chased after him, ringing in his ears long after the rectangular light of the doorway grew smaller, smaller still, and was gone. Leaving him to the darkness, to the winds, to the laughing Eye. 

"Hey." 

The cold tightness of his body sapped his strength, trapping him helplessly in the vast nothing surrounding him, his body screaming for air, for rest, for something to _give_ \- 

"Hey!"

Fenly's eyes snapped open as he gasped warm air into his lungs, the chill of his body forcing him to curl in on himself amid the comforting scents of wet acrylic paint and his own musty bed sheets. How? How was he back here? Was it a dream? He was still clutching his sketchbook close to his chest, folded foetal on his side as he stared at the red tasselled lampshade in the corner and breathed.

Breathed. 

Breathed. 

“You okay?” The newly familiar voice asked almost hesitantly, and Fenly forced his head to turn, lifting himself up onto his elbow to look at whoever was speaking to him. A man around his age (or maybe a few years younger, Fenly thought) stood at the foot of his bed, dressed in a plaid button down shirt with a camera clutched tightly to his chest. He was looking at Fenly as if he’d seen a ghost.

"I…” Fenly started, feeling unsettled as he stared at the stranger in his bedroom, the grit of desert sand still in his teeth, itching under his clothes. This was wrong. “What’s going on? Who are you?”

The young man blinked, looking around them suddenly as if seeing the place for the first time. "You should get up. Bring the book," he said impassively, nodding towards Fenly’s hands before turning away and stepping towards the door.

“Wait!” Fenly called after him, unsure if he should trust this guy but unwilling to be left alone so abruptly again. The boy stopped just as he reached the doorway, giving Fenly a chance to figure out how to stand on his weak, shaking legs. "Look, I’m Fenly. I’m just a little confused here." 

Something softened and grew sad in the eyes behind the glasses, and Fenly was even more certain this boy had to be a teenager at most. "My name's Tanner. Welcome to… this, I guess.” 

Tanner pushed the door open, not into the apartment hallway, but a dark serene forest. Moonlit trees stretched blue as far as Fenly could see, oddly violet shadows casting over the orange and green leaves beneath their feet as they stepped out through the door. Another rift maybe? And as Fenly wondered, he glanced up to the canopy to glimpse the night sky and was met with _**aN uNFATHOMABLE sCENE oF hORROR a bLACK hOLE a tEAR iN tHE sKY a sWIRLING mAELSTROM oF eNDLESS fEAR pULLING aND sUCKING aND fILLING hIM wITH tERROR wITH dREAD cALLING fOR hIM tO jOIN tHEM jOIN tHEM iN tHE aBYSS iN tHE bRIGHT dARK tHE dARKNESS wANTS tO fEED oN tHIS fEAR tHE dARKNESS wOULD cLAIM hIM wOULD cLAIM tHEM aLL iN-**_

“I should’ve warned you about that,” Tanner broke through over the voiceless words surrounding him and Fenly managed a shuddering breath, clutching his head and forcing himself to look at the ground so the sickness in his throat wouldn’t rise any higher. “It gets easier with time.”

"Am I dead?" Fenly asked in a panic, knowing the answer but needing confirmation from someone that this was it, this was all he had now. For the first time, Tanner avoided his gaze, inspecting his camera and giving a little shrug.

"Yeah, probably. I'm sorry," Tanner said weakly, and Fenly covered his eyes, feeling the strength leave his legs as he squatted, then sat on the forest floor. Tanner shifted restlessly beside him for a moment, not really knowing what to do as Fenly wept on the ground in front of him. So he waited a few moments for the man to pull himself together before asking "Are you… from the mountain?"

"The what now?" Fenly asked, response muffled partly by his sleeve as he wiped his face dry.

"That's a no," Tanner said more to himself than Fenly, who was gathering up his book from where he’d dropped it, the papers inside having fallen out slightly. 

Fenly sniffled slightly, dusting it off and opening it to the last words he’d written. “I was in my apartment building. We were… trying to keep something on, a machine but...” Fenly sighed, closing the book and glancing back up at Tanner who was just looking at him. Staring at him, unblinkingly. He didn’t even seem to be breathing, eyes focused on a spot that was possibly beyond anything Fenly noticed, and the uneasy feeling settled back over Fenly in a hurry. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

The question seemed to bring Tanner back, and he shook his head slightly, rubbing at his right eye and holding onto the camera almost defensively. “Sorry, I just… feel like I’ve seen you before. We should move.” 

Tanner spun around at that, apparently knowing where he was going even though Fenly suspected he might’ve just picked a direction to walk in. Still, he scrambled after him, catching up easily. “Are we the only ones’ here?”

Tanner huffed a little laugh, “No,” but didn’t seem intent on elaborating right then. Fenly worried at his lip, thinking about Jude and Abigail and Selina and Emmett and wondering if they were here somewhere too. "They're not here,” Tanner stated when he asked as much. “Whoever you were with, they're not here. At least not yet."

"How do you know that?"

"…I've been here a while. You’re the first person in a long time.” The corner of Tanner’s lips twitched, but if it was to hide a smile or a frown, Fenly couldn’t tell. For a second, almost like a mirage, Fenly saw a Tanner that was bloodied, the _skin on his face bitten and torn as if something tried to rip him apart_ , but then it was fine and Tanner was a normal-looking boy. “I don't know what you did to end up here, but no one came with you. That’s a good thing."

Fenly resisted the urge to tip his head back again and keep gazing into the unspeakable vortex until it swallowed him whole. "God, I hope it was enough."


End file.
